2k to 1080p Blu Ray workflow and monitoring

Questions:

1. Why does our TV monitor squish down the image when playing back when the FCP7 timeline should only be outputting 1080p?

2. When using ProRes HQ 422, what is the best workflow to output to 16:9 Blu Ray with the software tools we have?


We are editing our film using full frame 2K file size (2048x1556) super 35mm film scans in Prores HQ. We are using a consumer 1080p HDTV for playback and broadcast monitoring.

At present we're stuck with a BM Intensity Pro card (caps out at 1920x1080), somehow the image gets squished on playback. It seems we have to first resize to 1920x1080 for viewing/editing. Is AE best for this? We'd like to have a 1920x1080 timeline setting to compose to, moving the extended 2K headroom around for hiding mics and such.

Our output will be a commercial bluray.

What is the recommended workflow to maximize quality? Is it okay to first recompose/resize to 1080p in After Effects, and then back to FCP all the way through grading and then recompress again for the Bluray?

The current tools are FCP7, CS4 (AE), and Color.

Thanks for your help!

Steve Zimmerman
Charleston, SC